About Joy...

Joy greatly enjoys helping her clients from a humanistic, strengths-based, and biologically informed approach. Joy draws from polyvagal and neurosequential theories and she utilizes cognitive behavioral and supportive techniques to encourage change through self-motivation and insight. Joy believes the client is the expert on their own life, but the therapist is a resource and a guide. She also believes that the quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives, and therefore, the relationship with one’s self is the most important of all. Joy is well-versed in developmental theories and enjoys the utilization of both play and art techniques within the therapeutic frame to allow clients to process trauma and find peace.

Joy’s main therapeutic influences are based on client-centered Rogerian theory, and she utilizes cognitive behavioral, acceptance and commitment, and neurological and biological frameworks to encourage change through positive habit formation and self-insight in her clients. Joy is well-versed in developmental theories and enjoys the utilization of both play and art techniques within the therapeutic frame to allow clients of any age to process life’s challenges and find progress. Joy believes the client is the expert on their own life, with the therapist as a resource and a guide.

Prior to joining FPS, Joy worked for almost a decade within the school system as a special education school social worker. During that time, she worked within schools with alternative placements, autism, and emotional disturbance as it is presented in a classroom setting. Joy has historically been a resource to educators regarding trauma-informed classrooms and accommodations and modifications that work for both the teacher and the student.